Meet Banjo

This is Banjo!

He was found as a stray in Hollister, CA, which is about 60 miles south of the bay area. He was in a high-kill shelter in a farming community and was down to his last week or so when a rescue organization from the bay area brought him here. He stayed with a foster family for a week before his profile was posted online.

The day before we got him, he went to the vet to get neutered. While he was there, they discovered that he had giardia, some tummy worms (common to shelter / stray dogs) and a piece of buckshot lodged near his hind leg. So when we brought him home on Saturday he was a bit bedraggled and mostly wanted to find a little corner of the house and curl up to sleep. He has to wear an e-collar to keep him from licking his stitches, which he absolutely hates. It makes him run into walls and he gets surprised by loud noises behind him. Plus, of course, he can't lick his stitches, which drives him crazy. We tried to take him for a walk which was a spectacular failure. He flopped around on the leash like a newly-caught fish, clearly hating to be tethered to anyone. On the positive side, he was very tolerant of us once we got inside- he didn't growl or pull away and was happy to be petted. And he has been perfectly housetrained so far. He just marches over to the door and sits patiently until we let him out. It is lovely not to have to clean up messes!


We have had him for six days now, and Banjo has really started to come out of his shell. He has stayed home alone for up to 6 hours while we're at work, and mostly seems to enjoy sleeping in his big blue bed while we're gone. But when he hears us come home, he runs to the door and turns around in circles until we sit down to pet him. Usually our efforts are rewarded with a few licks, too. He likes to roll on his back and have his belly rubbed and he is getting pretty good at "come". His favorite treat is a bit of shredded cheese, which he takes very gently from our hands. He hasn't played with too many toys yet, but we have caught him carrying around our slippers a couple times. He has a couple very endearing quirks, like the way he cocks his head when he is listening for something and how he sometimes crosses his front paws under his chin when he is laying down.

We got him to go on a walk with us yesterday, too! He still takes a fair amount of encouragement and is clearly timid of cars and other people on the sidewalk, but he likes to sniff things and is tolerating the leash pretty well. When he starts to fight it, we just tell him to come and give him some cheese and that usually helps.


So we still have a ways to go, but it has only been six days, so we're feeling good about it. I'm sure there will be many future updates on the adventures of Tom and Kate and little Banjo!